I have a favorite phrase I like to pass on to students who are interested in being video game artists, this phrase is “anime bullshit”. Now before you power up the flame circuits, let me explain, anime is stupid, wait… no… gimme another chance. Anime and Manga represent a STYLE of illustration, and not even the only Japanese style. If you draw only in one style you not only limit yourself, you actively hurt yourself. If you are reading this, chances are you love video games (or if you are my mom you just love me), and some of the best video games come from Japan. As a result young video gaming nerds have a tendency to become enraptured with Japanese culture; I admit I was once one of these bespeckled youths who found stories of samurai and giant robots fascinating and bushido and tea ceremonies alien and wondrous. It was only natural for my interest in drawing and video games to veer into that territory. So I, like many others of my generation, began to copy my favorite robots and karate fighters.

When I started at college, I enrolled in a few drawing classes, what I experienced was shockingly different from what I had considered “drawing” up to that point. It was incredibly difficult, but rewarding. Instead of drawing scenes with ultra-powerful dudes screaming at each other, we drew drapery and skeletons. I found my art splitting into two veins, one was traditional art, and the other was video game and anime character. A funny thing happened though, the more I studied traditional art, the worse my manga art looked to me. I became aware of all the bad habits I had picked up, and all the ways it was affecting my traditional art (I still struggle sometimes with making my noses too long). I had a hard time giving up my hard earned Japanese style until the day I first showed my portfolio to a professional artist, but more on that later.

The point is, by the time I transitioned into game art, I had a solid traditional art foundation. I could recreate and render scenes from my mind, I could adapt to ANY style of art, not just one. I could draw anything now; it was just a factor of time. When I started learning 3d modeling, my understanding of form and silhouette helped me immeasurably. All I really had to learn was the program; I already understood three dimensional objects in space. It was then I noticed other would be artists struggling; they were still copying manga characters in the lines in between notes. The thing I want you to realize high school student or college freshman, is that your favorite anime artist studied traditional art. They spent years honing their skills, life drawing, studying classic Disney style animation. They didn’t get good by copying each other’s work; they get good by dedicated study.

When I talk to students still in school who are interested in game art I tell them this. Your competition is at a dedicated art college right now. They spend hours every day in life drawing and painting classes. They are learning composition, and lighting. They are learning about color and form. They spend all day in class drawing silhouettes of vases and fruit. If you spend your time drawing the same characters and overlarge swords every day, in 4 years they will be able to paint, draw, model, and render in ways you can’t even fathom. You will be standing in line at GDC with your notebook full of static, generic manga characters next to a girl with a portfolio brimming with beautiful digital concept paintings and orthographic drawings with flawless anatomy. So I look at them and I say “don’t bother with any of that anime bullshit”, sometimes they look dejected or hurt; good, that is the intended effect. This brings me back to the time I first showed my portfolio to a professional artist, this is also where I first heard the phrase “anime bullshit”.

I was crushed to say the least; I literally went into the bathroom and had myself a little cry. I cannot remember the last time I felt that shitty about myself. It felt like my heart had quite literally been torn from my body like in Temple of Doom. The thing was; he was right. My work was bland and without personality, my graphic designs all used the same font, and were actually pretty similar when I looked at them. These were all things people had told me before, but I had never really listened. I needed to be broken down so I could break my bad habits. Now I’m on a better path, I see only flaws in my work and I strive to improve them. My art instructor in college told me that “art requires courage, especially if you intend for people to see it’. So have courage young budding artist, cast off your yoke of style, be it comic, cartoon, or manga; and embrace the artist’s path of speaking truth into the visual form. It is a long and treacherous road, but the artists that have come before you are eager to help. All you have to do is shed your pride, take their outstretched hands, and walk gleefully into greatness.